Mole & Gecko: The Show

Type:Childrens Events

About

An adventure on the Thames with some animal friends

Poet Simon Mole and musicianGecko have joined forces to collaboratively write and perform a new show for children and families. Mole & Gecko: The Show comes to Norden Farm Centre for the Arts on Wednesday 20 February at 11.30am and 2pm. Tickets are £11 (£9 under 16s), Family and Friends (4 people) £36. Recommended for ages 5+ years.

Mole & Gecko: The Show is an interactive rap musical that the audience helps to create. Rather aptly, it is about a mole and a gecko. There are live songs, rap stories, instant poems, and a weasel with a serious biscuit problem. Join our heroes as they discover that what they thought they were searching for might be less important than what they find along the way.

Mole and Gecko developed the show with the help of Year 5 at Wessex Primary School. They tested some of the rough versions of the songs, and a number of the most interactive sections from the show. Simon says he particularly enjoys the buzz around audience participation, especially from young people: ‘It’s the moment in that shared creative process when they realise they are already poets and can say whatever ridiculous genius thought pops into their heads, and it will be heard, valued and quite possibly sung or rapped or shouted as part of an actual proper thing.’

Simon Mole is based in Maidenhead. He is a Poet, Emcee and Theatre-maker. He built his skills on the Brighton hip-hop scene. Since then he has shared the bill with Simon Armitage, John Cooper Clarke and Kate Tempest. He has also been featured on BBC Radio 3’s The Verb. Simon co-founded Chill Pill Collective. They curate and host popular poetry nights at Soho Theatre and the Albany. He was also the first ever Poet Laureate for the London borough of Brent. Simon is an experienced facilitator with over ten years’ experience working with rap and poetry in community and education settings, including projects with Great Ormond Street Hospital and Arsenal Football Club.

Gecko is a Singer, Storyteller and Musician. His playful lyrics cover the big things in life. Think iPhones, libraries and Guanabana fruit juice to name but a few. Gecko has previously appeared at Glastonbury, Bestival, BBC Radio 1, 6 Music, BBC Scotland, BBC London and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In November 2017 he launched his debut album Volcano with a sold out London show. It became Album of the Year in the Morning Star. Gecko has shared stages with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Robin Ince and Josie Long.

For a taste of what’s to come, see the duo’s Youtube page, where they released two of the songs from the show as a taster earlier this month.

Join us for an adventure along the Thames with some animal friends this February half term!